


Pencil Me In

by fangs_for_the_memories



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Gen, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 13:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5786638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangs_for_the_memories/pseuds/fangs_for_the_memories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After little excitable six-year old Laura Hollis enlists the help of her friends Danny and LaFontaine to sneak into the school after-hours, she bumps into the quiet Carmilla Karnstein and asks her to help with a super-secret mission-- to retrieve an object of the utmost importance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pencil Me In

**Author's Note:**

> Stumbled on a silly little prompt a while back and wrote this down. Then forgot about it. Then stumbled across the document :P  
> Enjoy!

“You’re gonna be lookout, right?” Laura asks, hushed.

Danny nods. “For the bazillionth time, _yes_ ,” she says, exasperated.

Laura shushes her. “Lower your voice! I don’t want to get taken to jail for this.”

Someone sighs behind them. “Jeebus, Laur. We’re only six years old, and it’s just a little B&E. No one’s going to jail,” a tiny redhead says, holding up a key ring.

“Uh huh,” Danny agrees. “LaF’s right. And we’re not even breaking anything, so it’s really just E.”

Laura frowns and steps aside as LaF unlocks the large metal door. “But this is _wrong_.”

“I thought you really needed whatever you left behind,” Danny says with a huff.

“I _do_ ,” Laura replies.

LaF shrugs. “Then how wrong could it be?”

Laura lingers in the doorway, biting her lip. “My daddy is gonna kill me…”

“Oh, _god_. LaF and I are keeping an eye out. Just go in already!” Danny gives her a small shove and closes the door behind her.

 

Laura sighs to herself. “Well, Hollis, you’re a hard bitten criminal, now.”

It’s hard to fault her friends for getting slightly snippy with her. She hadn’t been her usual cheerful self in the past couple months, and she knew that her friends had not only noticed, but were working hard not to say anything and give Laura her space.

She walks down the dark corridor and makes a left turn, still wrapped in her thoughts. In fact, she’s so preoccupied that she doesn’t see someone else standing in the hallway and walks right into them.

“Oof!” the other child says, losing her balance. She grabs onto Laura for support and instead drags her down with her and they both tumble to the ground.

 

“Oh! Sorry!” Laura squeaks as she lands on her.

“Watch where you’re going, spaz,” the other girl snaps, basically rolling Laura off of her.

Laura grunts and pushes herself up, offering her a hand, but it gets slapped away.

“Sorry,” Laura apologizes lamely. She vaguely recognizes the girl as someone in her class.

“What the creepy heck are you doing here?” the girl demands. “Everyone was dismissed like, half an hour ago.”

Laura pouts. “I left my p–– _something_ in the classroom.”

The girl rolls her eyes. “You couldn’t just wait until Monday to get it back?”

“No.” Laura shakes her head. “I need it.”

 

The other child regards her as if she’s the oddest person in the world. “And how were you planning on getting in?”

Laura starts to reach into her backpack and her eyes widen. “Oh, shoot! My friend was supposed to gimme the custodian’s key ring but forgot to.”

The girl raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “And how did they get a hold of those keys?”

Laura tilts her head to the side. “They have their ways,” she answers vaguely. She swallows hard and extends her hand again. “I’m Laura. Laura Hollis.”

 

The other girl looks shocked for a moment, then offended, then sad, then suddenly very shy. “I _know_ ,” she says softly.

“You do?” Laura asks, confused.

She nods. “We’re in the same class…?”

Laura’s eyes widen. “Oh! You’re Carmilla Karnstein!”

Now she looks even more startled than before. “Y-You know my name?”

Laura nods, smiling at her. “You always sit in the back, reading books and are super quiet, but we’ve been together since last year! Of course I know your name!”

Carmilla shifts back to her previous attitude with a scowl. “Then why did you introduce yourself, dummy?”

“I wasn’t sure you knew who _I_ was,” Laura admits.

 

Carmilla rolls her eyes and scoffs. “How could I not? You’re always in the front surrounded by a group of redheads, laughing and answering all of the teacher’s questions.”

“Oh.” Laura blushes.

“Anyway,” Carmilla says, letting her arms drop to her sides. “What did you need from the classroom?”

Laura bites her lip and sighs. “L-Look, do you think you can, like, pick the lock, or something?”

“Why would you ask me that?” Carmilla asks, looking insulted.

Laura looks like a deer caught in the headlights. “I heard–– my friend Perry told me––”

Carmilla chuckles. “I’m teasing. I know how. My big sister Mattie taught me.”

She gestures for Laura to follow her and they walk to the classroom. Carmilla sets her backpack down and rummages through it until she finds a couple of hair pins and smirks at Laura.

 

“You’re really pretty,” Laura blurts out.

Carmilla blinks at her. “Uh, thank you. You’re pretty, too.”

Laura beams at her and Carmilla notices that they both a tooth in the same spot missing. She gets to work on getting the door open.

“So, uh, what are _you_ still doing here?” Laura asks, fidgeting.

Carmilla sighs. “Do you want me to answer your question, or open this door? I can’t do both.”

“Open the door, please,” Laura squeaks.

Carmilla nods and continues working on it.

 

There’s a soft click and Carmilla swings the door open with a satisfied grin. She bows and holds her arm out for Laura. “You first, milady.”

Laura bows back and enters, heading to her desk and reaching inside. She produces a bright yellow pencil case and stuffs it into her own backpack. She walks back over to Carmilla.

“Done!”

Carmilla’s mouth drops open.

“What?” Laura giggles.

“Y-You… stayed late after school… stole the custodial staff’s keys… and had me break into our classroom for a _pencil_ _case_?”

Laura stares down at the ground. “Uh huh.”

“ _Why_?”

Laura shrugs and Carmilla furrows her eyebrows together. They leave the classroom and close the door.

“Look, I got you into that classroom. The least you could do is tell me why you needed a stupid pencil case.”

 

Laura sighs and brings the pencil case back out. She leans against the wall and pulls out a tiny, stubby pencil. “I just really needed this pencil inside it.”

Carmilla stares at her for a moment before laughing in Laura’s face. “Just the one pencil?”

Laura pouts and crosses her arms. “It’s my lucky pencil.”

 

“ _‘Lucky pencil?_ ’” Carmilla continues laughing, wiping a tear from her eye. “Man, I knew you were a dweeb, but I never knew you were _this_ much of a dweeb.”

Laura stays silent as her pout grows. “Yeah… anyway, thanks.”

Carmilla seems to realize she’s gone too far or overstepped some boundary and frowns. “Hey.”

Laura’s lower lip trembles and Carmilla’s eyes widen.

“ _Hey_ ,” she repeats, nudging Laura. “I’m sorry?” She has no idea what she is apologizing for but suddenly seeing the classroom’s human ball of sunshine ready to cry was making her panic.

“I need my lucky pencil for my mommy,” Laura whimpers, right before she bursts into tears.

 

Carmilla freezes, unsure of what to do. She’s never had to comfort someone crying before. Mattie and her mother had always insisted that the strong never cry, and so Carmilla was at a total loss. Laura Hollis was always the cheeriest kid in the class, and not even obnoxious about it. Sure, there had been a slight change in her usual upbeat attitude in past few months, but it wasn’t like she was any less happy than the average child

Meanwhile, Carmilla never talked to anyone and just kept to herself. She was pretty sure a couple of teachers wouldn’t have even known who she was. Carmilla was still in slight shock that Laura knew who she was at all.

Except now Laura was pitifully clutching onto a tiny pencil stub while hysterically sobbing in the middle of a dark hallway.

And if the strong never cry, then why was Laura Hollis crying?

 _Maybe her mommy is into some super weird writing utensil worshipping group_?

 

Carmilla swallows hard. “I, uhm… Are you okay?”

“I needed it so maybe she’d write me back,” Laura says through her hiccupping.

Carmilla has no idea what she means, but she needs Laura to stop crying because there’s a small pain developing in her chest from seeing her fall to pieces. So she awkwardly steps forward and hugs Laura.

Laura stiffens for a moment before wrapping her own arms around Carmilla.

Carmilla feels her own t-shirt growing wet but she waits until Laura’s sobbing subsides before letting go. “You okay?”

Laura nods, sniffling. “Yeah.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Carmilla offers gently. “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to…”

Laura takes a deep, shaky breath.

 

“My mommy isn’t living with us anymore. And I tried writing to her with my other pencils, and she hasn’t responded to any of my letters. So I thought maybe if I used my lucky pencil, she would.”

Carmilla doesn’t know what to say and winds up opening and closing her mouth several times, without any words coming out.

This doesn’t seem to bother Laura, however, as she pushes herself off the wall and starts walking away. Carmilla wordlessly follows her.

Laura suddenly lets out a giggle and Carmilla looks at her, puzzled. “This was all pretty silly, wasn’t it?” she asks, smiling.

Carmilla regards her and wonders how Laura can go from missing her mommy one moment to smiling the next.

“Nah,” Carmilla says, bumping shoulders with Laura. “Not silly at all.”

 

They hear footsteps down the hall and their eyes widen. “It’s Principal Morgan,” Laura realizes, gawking.

Carmilla grabs her by the hand and pulls her back the other way. Laura stumbles a bit but tightens her grip on Carmilla as she’s led forward to the utility closet.

Carmilla turns the knob and gestures for Laura to follow her after she’s stepped in.

Laura shakes her head.

“Don’t be a dummy,” Carmilla growls, reaching forward and tugging Laura towards her.

Laura falls into the closet and the door closes, as the footsteps get louder.

 

“Why didn’t you wanna come in here?” Carmilla demands, her voice shaking a bit.

Laura frowns. “Aren’t you scared of the dark? Or of being in tiny spaces?”

Carmilla huffs. “Why would you think that?”

“Last year when we went to the aquarium, you got scared and Miss Sarah Jane asked me to take you outside,” Laura explains, hushed.

“Y-You remember that?” Carmilla asks, surprised.

Laura nods and smiles at her. “Of course! We left the room and you were breathing heavily so I went to got you some ice cream and you’d thought I just left you so you were crying and I gave you both ice cream cones.”

Carmilla ducks her head sheepishly and gives her a small smile. “Yeah, you did.”

“So, are you?”

“Am I, what?”

“Are you scared of small spaces or of the dark?”

Carmilla nods hesitantly.

Laura gasps. “Then we gotta get out of here!”

“No!” Carmilla hisses, grabbing Laura’s hand as it reaches for the doorknob. “You’ll get caught sneaking––”

 

The door flies open and Laura gapes up at Principal Morgan.

“Uh…” Laura gulps.

“How articulate. And what do you have to say for _your_ self, my girl?” she demands from Carmilla, who visibly shrinks.

“Mom…”

Laura’s jaw almost hits the ground. “‘Mom?’ You’re the principal’s daughter?”

“She most certainly is,” Principal Morgan says with a sigh, stepping out of the way so the two girls can walk out of the closet. “And I am most disappointed in you.”

Laura looks over to Carmilla, expecting her to speak up, but Carmilla remains silent, her eyes trained to the ground.

“Leave now,” she says to Laura. “I need to speak to my daughter.”

“But I––”

“––Now, young lady.”

 

Laura starts to protest again, but she glances over and catches Carmilla’s gaze as she shakes her head. Laura huffs and starts to walk away, turning the corner but staying pressed against the wall to eavesdrop.

“What did I say about wandering off while I’m in meetings?” the principal snaps.

“Not to,” Carmilla replies.

“And dragging your friends into it,” her mother scoffs. “No wonder you don’t have any friends––”

 

“Wait!” Laura calls out before she can stop herself. She hears the conversation stop, so she takes a deep breath and walks back towards them.

“She didn’t drag me to do anything,” Laura explains, meeting the principal’s eyes. “I just happened to be here late and bumped into her. She didn’t want me to get into trouble, so she had us hide in there.”

Principal Morgan raises an eyebrow down at the small child before her. “Is this the truth, Carmilla?”

Carmilla nods slowly.

“I see.” Her eyes go back and forth between Laura and Carmilla. “And what were you doing here this late?” she asks Laura.

Laura’s eyes widen, but before she has a chance to answer, the vice principal comes over to grab Principal Morgan’s attention and whisper something to her.

 

“You didn’t have to do that,” Carmilla whispers to Laura.

“And you didn’t have to help me get my lucky pencil or hide me in a closet,” Laura replies sweetly.

Carmilla smiles back at Laura.

 

“Laura Hollis?” Principal Morgan asks.

Laura nods.

“I’m sorry for what happened with your mother,” she says, her previous tone replaced by a warmer one.

Laura swallows hard but nods. “Thank you, Principal Morgan.”

“Your father called and is worried about you. He’s waiting in his car by the main entrance,” she states. “Best be off now.”

She pauses when she sees her daughter smiling at Laura–– a smile she has never seen before.

 

She takes a deep breath. “Carmilla, perhaps you would like to go home with Laura? These meetings will take a while longer and you’ll probably be less bored there.”

Carmilla’s entire face brightens up. “Really?”

“Yes, yes. I already have Laura’s address in the school records and will pick you up later. Have fun.”

Carmilla runs over to her mother and hugs her. “Thank you!”

Principal Morgan chuckles. “Just don’t get into any more trouble.”

The two girls nod and run out the front door.

 

Laura’s father looks ready to cry from relief when he sees Laura. “Where were you?” he asks, picking her up and squeezing her in a hug.

“I forgot something in the classroom. Sorry, daddy.”

He lets out a long exhale and kisses her on the cheek. “It’s okay, kiddo. You just really scared me there.”

She kisses him back. “I’ll, uhm, try not to forget it again.”

He puts Laura back down and they both look over at Carmilla.

 

“This is Carmilla. She’s the principal’s daughter. They have different last names, though,” Laura says.

“I have my daddy’s last name,” Carmilla explains quietly.

“Oh, that’s cool!” Laura turns to her father. “Anyway, can she come over and play for a bit?”

He regards the other girl carefully.

“ _Please_?” Laura begs, batting her eyelashes.

“Alright, fine,” he relents. He gets them both settled into the car and starts driving them back to his house.

 

“We’re gonna have so much fun! My daddy bought this big blue box from this TV show that we can play in and we have some baseball bats if you want to do that or some small hockey sticks that I’ll grow out of when I’m bigger and we have lots of cookies and hot chocolate and comic books––”

“I can’t wait,” Carmilla says, grinning at Laura.

Laura beams back and squeals. “Thank you again for all your help. I really wanted my lucky pencil.”

Carmilla nods. “You’re welcome.”

 

They sit for a few minutes before Laura lets out a gasp. “Oh, poop.”

“What?” Carmilla asks, worried.

Laura laughs nervously.

“I forgot to go tell Danny and LaF that I got my pencil case back and that they can go home now.”

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this prompt](http://paintdripps.tumblr.com/post/124962709825/awkward-aus/):  
>  _"I need to break into this classroom to get my pencil bag back, and someone told me that you’re good at picking locks sTOP LAUGHING I NEED MY PENCILS"_


End file.
